Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓
German Fritter Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the broth
Place one chicken in three quarts of water and boil for two hours and a half.
Make the fritters
Take three tablespoonfuls of flour, four eggs, and one cup of sweet milk.
Mix the flour, eggs, and milk into a thin batter.
Make the batter into griddle cakes.
Bake the cakes as thin as a leaf.
Cut the cakes into small strips and put them into a bowl.
Season the strips with a little mace and nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Chicken | 100g cooked | 165 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Mace | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,557 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + chickentop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,389 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Gives the thin batter body so it holds together when cooked into cakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set when cooked, giving the cakes structure.
- Sweet milk
- Thins the batter and adds moisture and softness to the cakes.
The step that matters
Bake the cakes as thin as a leaf. Thin cakes cook through and dry evenly; thicker batter stays raw in the centre and turns gummy, making the strips hard to cut cleanly.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, chicken, egg, nutmeg, pepper):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, chicken, egg, nutmeg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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